Does Connecticut Require a Notary Journal? No — What to Keep Anyway (2026)
No. Connecticut law does not require a journal for any notarial act, and the Office of the Secretary of the State calls keeping one its very strong recommendation. What record to keep, and in what form, stays the notary's own decision.
Last updated: August 2026.
What Connecticut law covers
Connecticut's notary provisions govern commissions, conduct, fees, and certificates, and the Secretary of the State's office administers the program and publishes the notary manual. The law does not tell notaries to keep a record of their acts, in person or remote. The manual is direct about remote notarizations: Connecticut law does not require the notary to keep a recording, and the office recommends keeping one for at least ten years anyway.
The case for keeping one anyway
The question a journal answers arrives long after the signing: did this person appear before you, and how did you know who they were? An entry with the date, the document, the ID checked, and the signer's own signature answers it with evidence rather than memory. The journal is your own record; Connecticut sets no rules for who may see a voluntary record, and in a dispute it can be subpoenaed like any business record.
What format works in Connecticut
Any consistent format is lawful: a bound book, printed pages kept in order, or an electronic record. The Secretary of the State's manual recommends a bound book "to prevent loss or substitution of pages" and suggests recording, for each act, the date and time, the type of act, the document, the signature, printed name, and address of each person, the method of identification, the fee, and the place the act was performed.
Questions Connecticut notaries ask
Do Connecticut signing agents need a journal for loan signings? Not by statute. Real estate documents are also the ones most likely to be questioned later, which makes loan signings the acts most worth recording.
Does remote notarization change anything? No record requirement either way. Connecticut law does not require a journal or a recording for remote notarizations; the Secretary of the State's manual strongly recommends both, and suggests adding the signer's location, the method used to meet, and whether a recording was kept to a remote entry.
Should signers sign my Connecticut journal? Nothing requires it. A signature in your record is direct evidence the person appeared before you.
The record without the handwriting
Prep & Print Notary Journal fills in the entry on screen before the signing, prints it for ink signatures at the table, and keeps the saved entry in your browser on your own computer. It costs $19 once, at prepandprintnotary.com.
Every state's rule is on one page: Notary Journal Requirements by State.
Sources: State of Connecticut Notary Public Manual (Rev. 2023-2), §§ 4.18 and 4.25. General information, not legal advice.
